


Saving What We Love

by WritinRedhead



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: And Paige deserves to have a future, Bodhi adopted the Tico sisters, Bodhi and Cassian are just as bad as Han and Leia, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Drama, Family Feels, Fix-It, Getting Back Together, M/M, Other, author proudly flips off canon, set during TLJ
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2019-02-24 07:11:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13208616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritinRedhead/pseuds/WritinRedhead
Summary: What if...What if Bodhi adopted the Tico sisters and Paige gets to live?





	Saving What We Love

**Author's Note:**

> This fic started out as a small question of what-if and kind of blew up into a whole fic. Oops? ([Moodboard to go with it.](https://writinredhead.tumblr.com/post/169127764626/saving-what-we-love-read-on-ao3-the-only-thing))
> 
> Many thanks to [ misskatieleigh](http://archiveofourown.org/users/misskatieleigh) and [ ANTchan](http://archiveofourown.org/users/ANTchan) for looking this over! Thank you both so much. <3

_When she comes to, Paige Tico notices two things._

_First, her back hurts like a nine foot Catali had been using it as a trampolin._

_Second, the control is no longer in her hand. It’s left in the upper part of the bomber, in the cockpit together with Poe’s frantic calls._

_“Paige, can you hear me? Paige?”_

_Glancing around hectically, she spots the control dangling over the edge of the ladder right when she hears Poe’s voice again, distorted by static. Crackling._

_“Twenty seconds left…. Kriff! What.. -... - going on ov-r ...-ere?”_

_She can hear his curses along with more desperate calls of her name. He seems to have forgotten to turn off radio._

_“PAIGE!”_

_Her mind races. There’s not enough time to make it all the way up the ladder in what little time remains and she knows it. How could she not? Ever since completing her pilot training with barely sixteen, the Cobalt Hammer has been her second home._

_There is another way, though. The squadron had always joked about the Hammer being indestructible - from the outside. The inside was wonky and the ladder’s screws kept coming loose, if not tightened meticulously after every second flight._

_Gathering all her strength, she does what she never thought she would and Paige prays to the Force that the last person doing maintenance had been slacking._

_She kicks against the ladder._

_Once._

_Nothing changes, the control stays put._

_Twice._

_Three times and still, the control wavers, but doesn’t fall._

_Neither does the fourth time cause any change._

_Their time is running out._

_The Cobalt Hammer is what’s remaining of the bomber fleet, the last hope of the Resistance to have the slightest chance at a getaway. She and the five hundred proton bombs around her are the last thing that’s between her family and the First Order fleet._

_Paige touches the pendant around her neck, feels the heavy metal in her fingers and traces its crescent shape. The same golden pendant she knows is around her sister’s neck._

_“This is for you,” she whispers as she balls her fist around it before letting go._

_Above, Poe’s voice makes it clear there’s only time left for one more attempt._

_“May the Force help me.”_

_One last kick._

_The control falls. Rushing past her head as she shoots out her hand._

_Paige can’t remember ever having felt anything better that the cold, hard plastic in her right hand._

_Knowing there is no way off the bomber, she takes the last breath of her life._

_The last thought of her life goes to her sister and her father._

_“I hope you’re proud of me. I wish I could have said goodbye.”_

_Then she closes her eyes, presses ‘RELEASE’, and braces for the explosion._

***

The stolen shuttle maneuvers near soundless through hyperspace, quickly leaving the decadent ways of Canto Bight behind and holding course toward the First Order ship.  

Rose Tico lets out a low sigh and lets her head sink back against the seat she’s in. It’s the first quiet moment since the evacuation of the base.

“The calm before the storm,” she mumbles to herself.

Or maybe it’s the eye of the storm. Who knows.

She tries to keep her emotions at bay, separating herself from the pain that threatens to catch up, holding off a second wave of still raw grief washing over her. She’s managed to wait until the lieutenant bringing the confirmation had vanished around the corner of the escape pod bay before breaking down. She can hold it off a second time. There is no time for pain right now.

Rose brings her hand up to her neck, habitually reaching for the chain to which the pendant under her coverall is attached. Her hand comes up empty and she feels strangely naked without the familiar weight of the medallion.

Footsteps are approaching and she spins around in the seat, fully prepared to glare at the codebreaker.

“It’s just me. Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.” Finn nods toward the back of the shuttle. “ _He’s_... busy looking for more valuables.”

“Figures.”

“I just wanted to tell you that I’m sorry about your pendant.”

Rose shrugs and gives Finn a sad smile. “We need him to pass through the shields, nothing to be done.”

Nevertheless, she appreciates his thoughtfulness.

“Still.” Finn pulls a face. “He’s a dick,” he says

It makes her laugh despite all.  

“Yeah, he is.” Rose raises her hand again, but quickly remembers the pointlessness of the habit and lets her hand fall back onto her lap. “I’ve had it for as long as I can remember. Even before joining the Resistance.”

“About that, you mentioned the mines,” Finn says. “I know that the Empire mined crystalline ore in the Otomok system, but how did you end up in the Resistance? If you don’t mind me asking,” he adds quickly.

“I know all about you, so…” Rose shrugs again. “It seems only fair?”

“About that… _The_ Finn?” Finn makes a face as if to ask  ‘How?’

“Oh, simple. Poe told everyone.”

Finn scrunches up his nose and snaps his fingers in a darn-it way.

“Should have known that.”

“He’s proud of you. _Buddy_ ,” Rose adds with a grin. It feels good.  

Finn laughs, leaning back against a nearby console, and his whole face lights up. He has one of the most beautiful smiles Rose has ever seen. She takes a deep breath, trying to find some strength in it.

“It’s all because of my dad. My sister and my adoptive father,” she clarifies. “He’s been with the General ever since the days of the rebellion. He doesn’t talk much about it, but word has it he even helped blow up the first Death Star.”

“Really? Damn.” Finn looks impressed. “Even in the Empire those guys were legends.”

“I know, right? Paige and I were back on Hays Minor at a shuttle port when he found us. We were planning to get off planet, just hoping to get as far as the next outpost. It… didn't go as planned.”

Finn nods understandingly, but doesn’t question further. Rose figures he knows enough about the difficulties of escaping the First Order himself.

“We were all alone and it didn’t take much to notice that. He asked if we wanted to come with him. Back then, he was a random stranger, but we had nothing left to lose. And it didn’t hurt that he saved us from a unit of stormtroopers trying to get us back to the mining colony. So Paige figured he couldn't be that bad of a guy then. I was still too little to remember properly.”

She still remembers enough, though. More than she’d like to. About how the people in the occupied colonies were treated. How _they_ were treated. What caused a fifteen and a five-year-old to try and steal a shuttle with nothing else but hope to find a Resistance base. As small as the chances were.

Rose shakes off the memories and continues.

“He could have just left it to Resistance Command to find a place for us, but instead he invited us to live with him. Even though life wasn’t always easy, it was nice. We got to have something close to a childhood.”

“He sounds like a good father.”  

“He was. We also learned a lot from him. How do you think we ended up a tech and a pilot? Paige loved flying ever since she’s first climbed into an air speeder and her aim is - _was_ unbelievable. When he still lived with Dad and us, Cas-” She breaks off. “Anyway, that’s how Paige became a gunner for Cobalt Squadron. Guess I’ve always had more of a knack for fixing things.”

Suddenly Finn pushes off of the console he had been leaning against. He straightens his stance and looks past her seat, down the shuttle corridor. When Rose turns to see why, she spots BB-8 rolling up to them, the codebreaker following.

He scratches himself through his scruffy coat and says,“Thought I’d let you know, we’re closing in on the First Order cruiser.”

***

_Everything around her is black. Black with blinding bright flashes that hurt even through her closed eyes. The only thing Paige can hear are explosions. The sound vibrating, but faint. Like it’s far away from her._

_Like the fireworks she’d watched with her family years ago. Bright colors exploding in the sky above them, coming from a hatch in the Falcon. She smiles as she remembers how the General had scolded Captain Solo afterward, calling him an irresponsible nerf herder for doing so right above the base. His sole response had been a grin and a ‘Gotta live in the moment, dear.’_

_But somewhere in the back of her mind, she knows the explosions aren’t far away. And they aren’t fireworks. On the contrary, they're deadly and she’s right in the middle of them._

_As if to further dispel her doubts, the sound comes back on. Like someone turning the volume button of a holovid player back on and throughout it, she hears a familiar voice cutting through the sound of destruction._

_"My software can be reuploaded, yours can't. They need you, Paige Tico."_

_At the same time she feels arms of steel pulling her up and she’s lifted and placed in a sort of capsule. Once her head touches down, everything thereafter fades to black._

_All of that happened in the span of less than five standard seconds._

***

Rose misses her comfortable beige tech suit. The dull gray uniforms they use as a disguise cause a shiver to run over her whole body and it takes a lot to swallow down her disgust for those that have worn it before.

It’s a necessary evil, though. They need to disable the tracker, otherwise the Resistance will be lost. Eradicated. The galaxy’s last hope will be gone and Paige’s sacrifice will have been for nothing.

She can’t let that happen.

The only problem is, right now, both Finn and her are kneeling on the cold hard floor of the _‘Supremacy’_ and they're being called scum ‘that's too good to be shot’.

She inwardly cheers as Finn corrects it to “rebel scum”, only to be flooded with anger as the codebreaker steals away with his bounty.

The bastard double crossed them.

She shouldn’t be surprised. He’s the kind of man that has no loyalty, only to those who offer the most credits.

She scoffs and while it’s not loud, one of the stormtroopers behind her still hears and shoves her face further down. The unit’s leader, with her shiny armor and condescending voice, doesn’t even notice, too busy talking down to Finn.  

“Execution by blaster is too good for them, let's make this hurt. Oh my command.” Phasma’ lowers her voice, so that only Finn and Rose can hear. “Goodbye, _traitor_ ,” she whispers.

The command to execute is given by a wave of a metal glove and Rose’s last thought before the blade crackling with electricity comes down on her is, ‘Goodbye, Dad. I’ll say hi to Paige for you.’

“Execute!” Phasma bellows.

Then an AT-AT goes rogue and all hell breaks loose as the ship is ripped apart with a mighty crash.

Everything becomes drenched in sparks and fire.

***

 _Her eyes are still eyes closed when she wakes up. The capsule is narrow, much smaller than the escape pods on the_ ‘Raddus’ _, and Paige can barely lift her arms to touch the small window above her head through which light streams in. Light much brighter than the faraway stars._

_Before the panic of being confined can kick in, she hears a deep voice, muffled by the tempersteel hull surrounding her. Its sound resembles one from memories of long ago._

_“Let’s see what Kay sent me to get. Must be important if he had me abort my mission and return to base in a mad dash. …Or what's left of the base.”_

_The voice is approaching fast, carried by heavy boot-clad footsteps._

_“An escape pod, huh? Maybe some lucky bastard made it out of that inferno.”_

_A six digit string of beeps indicates a code being entered, followed by the clinking of a latch, and the pod opens with a loud hydraulic hiss. Even more light floods into her narrow accommodation. Then there’s a sharp intake of breath._

_“Oh Force…!”_

_She feels a cool hand on her forehead. Feels fingers checking her pulse at the side of her neck. Rough, calloused, familiar fingers. Familiar like the voice she’s heard in her dream, even though it’s a different one._

_“Paige? Can you hear me? Paige, it’s me.”_

_The voice takes her back to her younger self. The same voice that patiently told her to keep her hands steady by taking a deep breath to improve her aim._

_She remembers the morning Dad had told her and Rose about his departure. He’d looked infinitely sad all while saying there was nothing to be done._

_They resembled the General and Captain Solo in that way and while Paige thinks it was a mistake, they’re both nothing if not headstrong idiots._

_Headstrong idiots who she will never see again._

_It’s funny how he’s picked right now to appear in her memories. She wonders if this is the moment you see your life replay before you before crossing over into the Force._

_“Paige!”_

***

They disabled the tracker and managed to get to Crait just in time, sliding in the last second before the gate was shut.

Poe had told Rose that General Rook made it to Crait, but he was taking care of the many casualties and there hadn't been time to see him before the First Order started their attack.

Now she’s driving a rusty old sky-speeder over a red and white desert, cursing over the broken parts and praying to the Force that the speeder won’t fall to pieces before they even get to launch their counter-attack.

It takes a lot of force to shift the gear. It’s all rusted and stuck from not being used for several decades. The speeder shakes, the engine stuttering worryingly, and it crosses her mind that Paige could have easily dealt with it. Rose knows she’s a good pilot, she’s gotten enough family-flying lessons, but Paige was better.

She bites her lip and curls her fingers around the steering unit hard enough to turn the knuckles white. She mustn't let herself get distracted. Now is not the time for pain.  

Over the old comm link Poe orders to break off the attack and fall back to base. The First Order’s firepower is too strong. They’re outgunned and need to retreat if they want to avoid any more unnecessary deaths.

Rose is ready to turn around and follow his orders when she sees that Finn isn’t. He’s holding course. Right to the center of the laser cannon.

Poe seems to have noticed it, too.

“Finn! What are you doing?!” He yells into the commlink, lacking the tone of a squadron commander. Instead it’s that of a concerned friend.

And Rose knows why.

Finn is planning a kamikaze run right into the laser canon’s barrel.

“Not on my watch,” she says through clenched teeth, jamming in a higher gear. “I’ve already lost my sister. I don’t know if I’ll ever see my father again. I’ve lost too many people. I won’t lose you too.”

Then she jerks around the steering unit and prepares for the crash.

It comes even harder than she expected.

***

When she opens her eyes again, Finn is holding her in his arms, his face only inches away.

“Rose! Why would you do that, huh? I was almost there! Why would you stop me?!”

“I saved you, dummy. That's how we're gonna win.” She leans forward and softly presses her lips on his. “Not fighting what we hate, by saving what we love.”

Then her vision fades and the last thing she sees is Finn’s concerned face.

***

_“They got off of Crait. The General just sent an encrypted message with rendezvous coordinates.”_

_His voice is muffled, like he’s talking through a thick layer of fabric. Paige guesses her hearing got impacted by the explosions, from the sound echoing up into the bomber._

_Holding a hand to her head, she carefully sits up on the makeshift bed of the small C1 class transport shuttle when Cassian walks back in, carrying a stash of clean clothing._

_“But that aside, how are you?” He asks._

_That’s a good question. Just how do you feel after surviving something that ought to have killed you only to be picked up by the man who’s been like a father to you? Who you haven’t seen for years?_

_Paige doesn’t yet know if she’s angry at him. First, she needs answers._

_“I can’t… I can’t believe you’re really here. It’s been so long...”_

_He sits down next to her like he's done at her bedside years ago. He runs hand through his hair, inadvertently ruffling it._

_“You have some questions, don’t you? And I take it I won’t get a response from you until I’ve answered every one of them?”_

_“You’re not wrong.” She tries to keep her voice void of emotions until she figures out the mess in her head and heart._

_“Bodhi always said I was ‘bad at reading a room’. But I’m pretty sure you’re angry at me.”_

_“I… I don’t know yet.” Apparently her face had been slipping. “Did you miss us?”_

_Cassian is completely silent for a moment. Then he takes a deep breath and meets her eyes, putting as much honesty in his look as he can._

_“Always.” He looks down at his hands, inspecting his fingers. When he continues, he sounds rueful. “The first war had shaped me and it was hard to let go of who I had become. I honestly thought leaving was for the best. I just… I didn’t know how to come back afterward.”_

_Paige carefully reaches out to take his hand. He flinches but doesn’t pull away._

_“This,” she says. “This is how you come back.”_

_A flicker of hesitation runs over Cassian’s face. Then it’s gone and he pulls her into a hug. Quick, but pressing her close to his heart as he holds her tight. It’s a moment where words would only be out of place._

_Except for, “We missed you too.”_

_“Now it’s your turn,” he says as he pulls away, straightening his shirt as if that could hide what counts for him as an emotional outburst. Once a spy, always a spy. “How are you?”_

_“Okay, mostly.”_

_Paige rubs her forearm, there seem to be quite some bruises from the fall and her ribs hurt, but otherwise she feels okay. Getting better by the moment._

_“I’ll live,” she says. “Still not sure what really happened, though.”_

_A proud smile builds on Cassian’s face._

_“You saved the Resistance, that's what happened.”_

***

“Hey. How do you feel?”

When Rose wakes up, she finds herself in a small bunk with Finn kneeling at her side to be on the same level. She tries to sit up and promptly groans. Her headache is worse than the one on the morning after she’d come of age.

“Like I just crashed with a speeder at a hundred miles per hour,” she says and holds her head.

“I wonder why.” Relieved she's feeling strong enough for a joke, Finn chuckles. “Here, lemme help,” he says and helps her sit up in the bunk, gently moving her legs over the edge.

When he moves aside, clearing the view onto her surroundings, Rose nearly can’t believe her eyes. It’s been years since she’s last been here, but she recognizes the infamous Millennium Falcon immediately. There’s no ship in the galaxy like it.

“There’s someone who’d like to see you.”

Bodhi steps up from around a corner, his beard streaked grey and small wrinkles around his eyes. He smiles slowly and opens his arms.

“Rose.”

She gets up, not minding her dizzy head with the prospect of finding comfort in his arms.

“Paige… She - she… down with the ship…”

She wants to tell him what happened, but she keeps choking up, her voice breaking. Everything she’d locked away comes back at once, crashing down on her like an avalanche of emotions. All the pain and grief she had pushed away.

“I know.” Bodhi interrupts her. He gently lays a hand on top of her head and guides her toward his shoulder. “I know.”

They hold each other, trying to share the pain and give whatever comfort they can.

He’s been involved with command for half a decade now, but he still carries that faint smell of engine grease and soot with him. It’s comforting and Rose buries her face in his uniform jacket, wetting it as tears soak through it, her shoulders shaking. She feels one of his tears fall down on her hair.

She only lifts her head when she hears someone coming up behind them.

“Rose… General Rook…” His head held low, Poe walks up to them. “I need to talk to you. I … I need to apologize, I-”

“Don't apologize.” Rose rubs the sleeve of her coverall over her face as she steps out of Bodhi's arms. She knows why he’s here. “You did what you thought was important and what would be best for the Resistance. And so did my sister.”

Poe shakes his head.

“But it was my fault, if I had…”

“Poe,” Bodhi now says. “You know Paige. You know her and you know she wouldn’t want that. What she did allowed the fleet to escape to the D’Qar system. We wouldn’t have made it without her.” He smiles wistfully, caught somewhere on a beach in the past. “I know a few things about self-sacrifice and the last thing she would have wanted is for those whose lives she saved to feel sorry.”

Poe nods, slowly, still not entirely convinced.

“You better believe them, Poe. They’re right.”

 _‘A shuttle just docked on bay two,’_ General Organa announces via the comm system _‘We’ve got some more company and I think we all know them.’_

And Force, does Rose know them. Recognizing the voice, she quickly jerks around. Bodhi, too, turns his head. He mirrors her surprised gasp.  

Under the entrance stands Paige, supported by Cassian, who has her arm slung over his shoulder to keep her steady.

“Hi, Rosie. Hi, Dad.” She lifts her free hand for a small wave. “Look who I’ve brought with me.”

Rose can’t believe her eyes as she feels her heart beating quicker in her chest. The tear that had stopped for a moment start to flow again. For a different reason this time. She looks from Paige to Cassian and back, trying to express what she’s thinking, but all that comes out is, “How… Why… You’re back, you’re both back.” She hiccups. “Paige, I thought you were…”

Cassian helps her over to Bodhi and Rose, still standing close to each other. They take over and take Paige into their arms.

“It’s okay. We talked and it’s okay,“ Paige says and hugs Rose closer. “I’ll tell you everything later.”

“It’s okay,” Rose repeats, needing to say it to herself. It’s the first time since all of this started that she believes the words.

Cassian takes a step back and Rose is overcome by a sudden worry that he might leave again. She reaches out and tugs him into their group hug.

“I won’t go again,” he says as if he’s heard her thoughts. “I’m here to stay. If you’ll have me.”

“Of course you can stay,” she says and she can feel Bodhi nod behind her.

Cassian and Bodhi share a look as they watch the two sisters hold each other. They talk quietly, thinking neither Paige or her can hear them.

“Thank you,” Bodhi whispers over Rose’s head. “Thank you and welcome back.”

“Keeping the family together, that’s what’s important, isn’t it?” Cassian answers in the same whisper. “Saving those we love.”

 ***


End file.
